Budget 2019: Fiscally responsible with a reforms thrust, but protectionist

The finance minister's revenue efforts represent a mix of progressive taxation, dipping into the petroleum sector for collecting more taxes and growing protectionism

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented a Budget that kept the Narendra Modi government’s fiscal consolidation track record intact and used a variety of measures to bolster the government’s revenue efforts.
 
The Union Budget, the first by the Modi government in its second term, also outlined new reform initiatives like a big drive towards privatisation, relaxation in the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, including norms for foreign portfolio investors, a new policy on rental housing, an incentive package for faster adoption of electric vehicles, freeing up of land held with public sector undertakings for housing projects and a